This being my first debate, I will resolve that Barack Obama during his first term and so far (As of 4/17/13) through his second term has been a mediocre if not outright terrible President. BOP lies with both arguers, the pro must argue that Barack Obama has been a generally successful President. First round is for acceptance

here are my 50 reasons why he sucks....let me know if you need more i have plenty!

1) When Democrat Nancy Pelosi questioned the patriotism of Americans who honestly and intelligently opposed the tenets of Obama Care by calling them un-American, Obama was silent.
2) When Democrat Charles Rangel likened citizens who honestly and intelligently opposed the tenets of Obama Care to the racists who opposed the civil rights movement back in the 1960s, Obama was silent.
3) When Democrat Shelia Jackson Lee stated that all Tea Party members, nearly all of whom are sincerely, honestly, and deeply concerned about out of control government spending, our loss of freedom, and our skyrocketing national debt, used to wear Ku Klux Klan sheets, Obama was silent.
4) When Democrat Nancy Pelosi said that all Americans who honestly and intelligently opposed the building of a mosque at Ground Zero needed to be investigated, Obama was silent.
5) When Democrat Alan Grayson said that all Republicans were knuckle dragging Neanderthals, Obama was silent.
6) When his own green jobs czar, Van Jones, stated Republicans were a__h___s, Obama was silent.
7) When Democrat Harry Reid insulted all Americans when he asserted that all Americans sightseeing in our nation's capital in the summer physically smell, Obama was silent.
8) When several Democrats, allegedly including Vice President Joe Biden, likened Republicans to terrorists, the same type of people that attack and kill innocent people, during the debt ceiling debate last summer, Obama was personally silent.
9) When Rep. Steve Cohen likened Republican critics of Obamacare to the Nazis and their propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, Obama was silent.
10) When labor leader Jimmy Hoffa threatened violence against Tea Party members and Republicans, threatening "war" and threatening to "take theses sons of bitches out", Obama was silent.
11) When Americans expressed outrage and concern about our skyrocketing national debt and were called barbarians for having this legitimate opposing opinion, Obama was silent.
Looks like the President came up short in his promise when he said "one of the things that we have to change in our politics is the idea that people cannot disagree without challenging each other's character and each other's patriotism." Standing passively aside and allowing your political allies to call ordinary American citizens terrorists, racists, and other slanderous names and questioning their patriotism is certainly not Presidential.
The President should be the President of all Americans, not just the one who voted for him. Silence is not golden, in these cases it is divisive and bigoted.
The "Constitution is Merely A Set Of Suggestions, Not Hard and Fast Rules" Syndrome
As President of the United States, President Obama took an oath to uphold the tenets of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and to enforce the laws of the land. However, he seems to have misinterpreted these responsibilities, treating the Constitution and the rule of law as mere suggestions:
12) He inserted the United States armed forces into the Libyan civil war and into danger in violation of the war making powers given to Congress by the Constitution and in violation of the War Powers Act. While his war strategy may have been the right thing to do, his disdain for the rule of law does not make the means justify the ends. If he had been doing his job, he would have had enough time to do the Libyan warfare action in the right, lawful manner.
13) When his Gulf of Mexico oil drilling moratorium was deemed illegal and a Federal judge told the administration to rescind the moratorium, the administration did just that and, in defiance, replaced it with a second moratorium that was almost identical to the one that the judge ordered to be halted. Consider what Judge Feldman, the presiding judge had to say about this blatant disregard for the rule of law:
"Each step the government took following the court imposition of a preliminary injunction showcases its defiance, Such dismissive conduct, viewed in tandem with the re-imposition of a second blanket and substantively identical moratorium, and in light of the national importance of this case, provide this court with clear and convincing evidence of the government's contempt."
The Constitution set up three branches of government to keep each other branch in check. Ignoring a ruling from the judicial branch is the same as ignoring the Constitution, it is the same as holding the Constitution in contempt.
14) The Defense Of Marriage Act (DOMA) was signed into law by a Democratic President, Bill Clinton, and it legislated that the Federal government recognizes that marriage is a union between one man and one woman, not two gay or lesbian individuals.
It is a repugnant law and should be terminated, the Federal government and politicians should not be in the business of regulating and defining what is proper personal behavior. However, it is the law of the land and President Obama, as he was sworn to do, is responsible for upholding the law of the land.
However, he violated this Constitutional responsibility when he unilaterally decided not to defend the law in any court cases. The Constitution provides an orderly process for terminating bad laws through legislation. He should have terminated this law within the first year of his term, within the rules and boundaries of the Constitution, when the Democrats controlled the White House and both parts of Congress. Unilaterally ignoring the law of the land now is a blatant violation of the Constitution and the oath he took.
15) Obama is the first President to set up a "shadow government" within the White House. His system of "czars" sets a dangerous precedent by establishing a potential ruling junta that bypasses the checks and balances of Congressional review established by the Constitution.
16) His recent illegal "recess appointments" of someone to head the newly formed consumer protection agency, that came out of the Dodd-Frank legislation, and three people to the National Labor Relations Board are a continued symptom of his desire to bypass Constitutionally mandated Congressional review and approval when it comes to appointing people into high ranking government positions.
The excuse and flawed rationale that Bush did the same type of appointments does not make it okay. No matter who executes this type of behavior, it is a violation of the Constitution's spirit and intent.
17) The disastrous "Fast and Furious" DEA gun running operation that allowed thousands of military grade weapons to easily cross the U.S. border into Mexico and into the hands of Mexico's violent drug cartels is a gross violation of domestic laws and international treaties. As President, Obama was sworn to uphold the laws of this country which also includes enforcing the valid treaties we have with other countries. Allowing his Justice Department to haphazardly operate "Fast and Furious" is a clear violation of that responsibility.
18) Earlier this year, the California solar panel company Solyndra went bankrupt and endangered the $530 million taxpayer investment that the Obama administration had granted the company. The only hope that the American taxpayer had of recovering even a fraction of the half of billion dollars was to exercise its legal right to be first in line when the bankruptcy proceedings sold off the remaining Solyndra assets. That was a legal condition of the loan guarantee: in the event of a Solyndra default, the Federal government lawfully got first crack at recovering money.
However, Obama's Energy Department illegally moved the Kaiser Foundation, another Solyndra investor, ahead of the American taxpayer in the bankruptcy proceedings. This action was done without the knowledge of the Justice Department who is supposedly responsible for enforcing the laws of the land like this one. As a result of this leapfrog move, any assets and money from the sale of Solyndra assets were illegally used up before it was the American taxpayers' turn to receive anything. However, the Kaiser Foundation did recover much of its investment.
Oh, and by the way, the Kaiser Foundation has strong family links to a gentleman called George Kaiser. George Kaiser has been a very important, successful and prolific fund raiser for Obama's past political campaigns. A law ignored, a political ally satisfied.
19) President Obama signed off on the extensions of the Patriot Act, the worst legislation regarding the destruction of personal liberty and freedom and growing the Orwellian power of the Federal government. He did not even bother to try and staff a panel of people to review and control government abuses that might occur under the Patriot Act, a panel that is mandated by the law.
The "I Did Not Major In Economics Bit I Did Stay At A Holiday Inn Express" Syndrome
It is no secret that the economy has been in a bad funk for many years now. High unemployment and higher underemployment, anemic economic growth, skyrocketing national debt, a stagnant stock market, a housing market in a ditch, etc. Now, most Democrats would blame Bush for the entire economic mess. However, this argument is a crock for two reasons.
First, if we look at the last five years of government, the years 2007 through 2011, the Democratic Party has controlled 80% of the Federal government's functions. They have controlled the Senate for all five years (2007 to 2011), they had controlled the House of Representatives for four years out of five (2007 to 2010) and they controlled the Presidency for three years out of five (2008 to 2011). Republicans were in charge of a Federal government function for only three years, Bush was President for two years and the Republicans controlled the House for one year.
Thus, while Bush may be responsible for a lot of the economic problems we face today, the Democrats have at least as much culpability and possibly quite more, given their 80% control of government from 2007 to 2011.
Second, if you look at official Federal government data, Bush budget deficits are not to blame for our current economic malaise. The deficit picture was actually improving under Bush, up until the November 2006 midterm elections. It is only when the Democrats take over Congress in 2007 does the deficit problem deteriorate significantly. No matter what government data you examine or graph, e.g. unemployment rate, deficits as a percentage of GDP, deficits as a percentage of budget, total annual deficits, etc., the U.S. economy was in pretty good shape until the Democrats took over Congress in 2007.
In many cases, the Bush deficit and unemployment data is as good or better than the various deficit measures during the Clinton administration. Thus, blaming Bush does nothing to let the Obama administration off the hook for the following economic disasters:
20) Cash For Clunkers - Failure
21) Cash For Caulkers - Failure
22) Cash For Appliances - Failure
23) Small Business Tax Incentives - Failure
24) HAMP Mortgage Relief Program - Failure
25) $800 Billion Economic Stimulus Program - Failure
26) Unnecessary Auto Company Bailouts Costing the Taxpayers Billions Of Dollars - Failure
27) Unnecessary Bank and Financial Institution Bailouts
28) Persistently high unemployment three years after Bush left office and three years into the Obama administration.
29) Gas prices that have consistently been about double what they were since the Obama administration began.
30) Average household income levels have fallen in the three years after Bush left office and all three years into the Obama administration.
31) Several years ago, Senator Obama decried the Bush administration when it requested a debt ceiling raising from Congress, correctly categorizing it a "failure in leadership."
As President, the Obama administration and the Democrats in Congress have added almost as much to our national debt than all Presidential administrations prior to the Obama administration COMBINED.
The "Foreign Affairs Are Foreign To Me" Syndrome
Many of the foreign affairs issues we face as a nation are difficult and challenging. I am not sure that President John McCain could have done a better job than Obama.
However, as the old sports saying goes, "you are only as good as your record," and this administration's foreign affairs record is not good and given its track record to date, is not likely to improve in the next four years:
32) Iran is three years closer to having nuclear weapons capability.
33 )North Korea is three years closer to having nuclear weapons capability.34) The Israelis and Palestinians are no closer to peaceful coexistence than they were three years ago.
35) Our Afghanistan situation is just as hopeless and lost as it was three years ago.
36) The latest public opinion polls of Arab citizens indicate our standing with the "Arab Street" is as low as it has ever been, ranking behind Iran and its tyrannical leaders on many dimensions.
37) The Obama administration was caught totally unaware and unprepared when one of the biggest freedom movements of all time came to be, the Arab Spring, indicating a massive contingency planning failure of State Department.
38) Although the Obama administration has theoretically gotten us militarily out of Iraq, it was done much later than we were led to believe would happen during the 2008 Presidential campaign. In fact, Obama withdrew our troops from Iraq on the original George W. Bush withdrawal schedule, a fact that was not mentioned during Obama's campaigning.
39) All of which is a moot point since rather than stationing actual U.S. military troops in the country, we will pay anywhere from 5,000 to 10,000 mercenaries to do our military bidding going forward. Thus, we will still have armed forces in the country, regardless of what you call them, in direct opposition to Obama's vow to get us all the way out of Iraq.
Overall, from a foreign affairs perspective, we are no better off, best case, than we were three years ago and in many cases, especially the growth in the nuclear arms club, we are likely worse off.
The "How To Screw It Up For The 90% When Trying To Fix It For The 10%" Syndrome - Obama Care
When the debate over health care reform started, it was viewed as a national tragedy that between 30 million Americans, or about 10% of the population, did not have health care insurance coverage. Rather than come up with a solution that addressed the needs of the 10%, the Obama administration constructed an immense, unwieldy, and doomed to failure piece of legislation that is likely to not fix the 10% problem but will cause havoc for many in the 90% of the people that already had, and were mostly happy with, their current health care insurance.
At no time in our history can I remember a piece of legislation that was so poorly thought out, so poorly written, and will have such catastrophic impacts on so many Americans:
40) Tens of millions of Americans are likely to lose their health care insurance from their employers since under Obama Care it is less expensive for them to terminate their health care insurance programs and pay a fine than to continue them.
41) Obama Care will impose more than 1,950 new Federal government rules and regulations on Americans and American businesses, reducing economic growth and contributing to high unemployment for years besides severely restricting the freedom of all Americans.
42) The CLASS component of Obama Care, that program which was supposed to provide long term care and was one of the main and few reasons for the initial financial analysis of Obama Care being positive, has already been shut down because it provided fewer benefits at higher cost than existing long term care programs in the private sector. Thus, the financial viability of the entire Obama Care program is now in great doubt.
43) The head actuary for Medicare and Medicaid recently completed his own in-depth analysis of Obama Care and concluded that it will add more than $300 billion to the national debt in the first ten years vs. if Obama Care had not been passed, shattering the Obama administration's claim that Obama Care would reduce our skyrocketing national debt.
44) About 1,500 exemptions to the law's requirements have already been granted by the Obama administration, strongly indicating that if you have to make over 1,500 exemptions before the full force of the legislation is in effect, it is not going to be a good piece of legislation.
45) The law is so poorly written that it will likely influence whether Americans get married, take a promotion, or retire since there are seriously financial ramifications for all of these decisions under Obama Care. Government laws and actions should make citizens' lives easier, not seriously impact and influence the major personal decisions in their lives.
46) The legislation was passed through the barely legal but highly unethical process called reconciliation. Legislation of this magnitude and this importance needed to be passed with full disclosure and in the right, ethical way since it will impact every American. Reconciliation is the wrong way, it is the coward's way.
47) Numerous opinion polls of business owners show that the magnitude, penalties, and uncertainty of the Obama Care legislation is causing business owners to hunker down and curtail business expansion and hiring, contributing to continued high unemployment and anemic economic growth.
48) The legislation will fail miserably because of the poor problem solving skills of those who wrote it. The root causes of our skyrocketing health care costs and resultant high insurance costs are the following, mostly public health reasons:
*Americans eat too much.
* Americans eat too much of the wrong types of food.
* Americans do not exercise enough.
* Americans smoke too much.
* Americans are getting older on average.
Obama Care took a public health crisis and tried to solve it with massive increases in inefficient government regulations, taxation, and bureaucratic intervention into our lives. Rather than addressing and focusing these pubic health issues (along with medical industry tort reform and cross state line insurance competition), Obama Care created 1,950 rules and regulations that will do little to fix these pressing public health care issues.
49) And most importantly, Obama either lied or was totally oblivious to what Obama Care would do to most Americans. The President said we could all keep our current health care plans but that will not happen since many companies will opt to pay Obama Care's small fines than continue to carry health insurance for their employees.
The President said that Obama Care will not add to the national debt but that is no where close to being a true statement according to many nonpartisan experts.
The "I Hope The Big Issues of Our Time Get Resolved Since I Have Other Things To Do" Syndrome
For decades, no one in the White House or in Congress has come up with effective, compassionate, and efficient solutions to the major issues of our times. These include Republicans and Democrats, today and forty years ago.
Thus, although candidate Obama campaigned on the promise of hope and change, his ability and come with actual plans to implement that hope and change has failed just as miserably as those that came before him, causing that "hope and change" theme to ring very hollow three years into his term:
50) Forty years or so after Nixon declared "war on drugs," we are no closer as a nation form having a sane and effective illicit drug program. In fact, if anything, the growth of the violent drug cartels that threaten the sovereignty of Mexico and other Central and South American countries has grown exponentially during Obama's first three years as resolution of our war on drugs is nowhere in sight.

Sir, I even specified in the first round that I thought that Barack Obama was a mediocre if not all out bad President. I am the con for an argument that says that Barack Obama is an exceptional president, which would mean that I think he is the opposite of a successful president. You should concede defeat if you wish.